Pothys buys prime T Nagar property for Rs 60 cr

The owners of Pothys, a chain of textile showrooms in south India, has acquired a prime property in Chennai for around Rs 60 crore. This would be the second biggest property deal in the city in the last three months after India Cements MD's Rs 90 crore deal in posh boat club area.

While the seller, actor K R Vijaya, has confirmed the deal, she refused to share any further details on the transaction. Pothys managing director S Ramesh refused to talk on Monday.

The property is located on Raman street at T Nagar, a prime shopping hub in Chennai. Sources said the property is spread over 10-11 grounds.

This is the second biggest deal in recent months. In July, India Cements' vice-chairman and MD N Srinivasan has acquired a 10 ground (1 ground = 2,400 sft) property along with buildings from Sulochana Reddy at boat club area in Chennai.

Sources close to the deal pegged it at Rs 90 crore based on the price of 9 crore per ground. The premises was rented out to Preeti Appliances belonging to T T Varadarajan of TTK group.

A Shankar, local director (strategic consulting -Chennai, Coimbatore, Colombo), Jones Lang LaSalle, said T Nagar was a commercial area and the land price depends on the demand-supply parameters. The price is determined on the potential for the end user for retail development in the property.

The prevailing market price in Chennai is around Rs 3-4 crore a ground, Shankar said. If the price goes up to somewhere near Rs 6 crore a ground, considering the potential for T Nagar as a shopping hub, it is possible. A property in T Nagar can fetch you the price, considering its potential for the retail segment, he added.

According to him, there were no major land deals happening in Chennai for the past two years, and the deals that are coming up now show that the market is moving towards change as the investors are willing to buy and property owners are thinking of selling property at a good price.

However, he said one or two deals do not determine the whole cycle of real estate business. Such deals should be happening in residential real estate sector and the other segments in that case.